𝘎𝘪𝘳𝘭𝘴 • Moon & Tory

TWENTY-SEVEN

THE sound of an alarm rang through Lucia's ears.

Groaning, she sat up and noticed her timer had been ringing for at least ten minutes.

Looking at the time, she had realized she needed to get ready for school.

Rushing, she threw on any pair of jeans she could find and a black, cropped sweater along with her high-top sneakers and a random beanie she found under her bed.

She knew Moon would be there any minute, so she grabbed her stuff, making sure she had everything, then looked in the mirror.

She noticed that her stomach was showing a little bit, meaning people could see the patch. She slightly unpeeled it and saw the bright red scars reminding her of that very moment. She closed her eyes, trying to keep last night's dinner down and went downstairs.

Before she even had time to say goodbye to anyone, there was beeping from outside and she ran out to Moon's car and got in.

"Good morning, lovely." Moon greeted.

"Hey." Lucia fake-smiled.

"What's wrong?" Moon asked.

"What do you mean?" Lucia questioned.

"Girl, I know you like I know a Harry Styles song, spill." Moon said.

"I'm nervous. That's all."

"Don't be! I know I have no idea what you or anyone else is going through because I wasn't involved, but I can promise you that you're not alone and you can do this." Moon encouraged.

"I love you." Lucia smiled.

"I love you too."

They leaned in, but Lucia swallowed and looked away. She was with Tory now, she couldn't do this. Not again.

"I'm gonna drive now."

"Okay."

Moon drove the two to school and the second Moon parked, Lucia could feel a pit in her stomach.

They got out of the car and Lucia's legs felt like they were jello, but she still continued walking anyway.

Once they got inside, they hit their bags checked and the second Lucia walked past security and saw Hawk, her stomach began turning.

He was talking to some girls who didn't seem interested, but we're interested in Demetri.

Demetri, Chris, and Nate stood in front of Hawk, Mitch, and Bert.

Lucia felt like she was going to throw up, but held it down and walked past them.

"Ah, Misses Nichols, glad to see you made it to school. We, uh, thought you were going to chicken out." Hawk then looked over to Moon. "Sup, Pearson."

"I'm not Miss Nichols, Tory and I aren't married."

"Hm, right."

"Leave her alone, Hawk." Moon rolled her eyes.

"Feisty today, ladies." He continued.

Lucia walked up to him. "Why do you hate me? What the hell did I ever do to you? I've always been nice to you and you treat me like shit. Why?"

Hawk looked down at his feet, not saying anything.

"That's right, you don't have an answer because you're just an asshole. Come on, Moon."

They continued walking and caught up to Yasmine, it behind her first day back.

"'Sup front wedgie." Someone called.

Moon turned to face them, then looked at Yasmine.

"What happened to this place? I go to Paris for one summer and the losers are running the school?"

"I'd be a little nicer, half the kids in school know karate now." Moon reminded.

"Does that make Aisha queen bitch?" Yasmine asked.

"You didn't hear? After the fight, her parents moved her to a private school. They even put their house up for sale." Moon said

"At least there's some good news." Yasmine muttered.

Lucia rolled her eyes. "Why did we decide to be friends with her again?"

"Oh please, the only reason you're still here is because your mommy got a new job. Be grateful that I tolerate you."

Lucia clenched her teeth and rolled her eyes again, Yasmine getting under her skin.

The three girls walked up to the stairs, Lucia's heart pounding.

She looked around, remembering all of the fighting that went on on those stairs. That's where her accident happened.

Her stomach began hurting again and she ran over to the trash can, throwing up in it.

Coughing she collapsed next to the trash can and hugged her knees to her chest.

"What the hell is she doing?" Yasmine asked.

"Sh!" Moon bent down. "Hey, hey, Lucia what's wrong?"

"I...I cant be here. I have to go."

"Okay, alright, let's get our up."

Moon pulled her up and into a hug. Lucia felt safe in her arms, different than she felt in Tory's arms.

She felt safe in Tory's arms, but she knew Tory could backstab her at any moment, and she wouldn't know how to handle that because she loved the girl so much.

"Do you want to go home?"

"No. I think...I think I'll stay, but I'm gonna take the back stairs."

"Okay. See you in homeroom."

Lucia nodded and walked to the back stairs and pressed her back gassing the wall. She began crying and dialed Tory's number.

It went to her voicemail and Lucia put her phone down and cried, sinking to the floor. Her tears turned from sad to angry and she punched and kicked the wall, but no matter how many times she did that, nothing made her feel better, so she knew exactly what to do.